A Black Man's Search For Community In Oh-So-White Seattle

Seattle Poet Nikitta Oliver – who moved from a mostly black community in Indianapolis 12 years ago – said Seattle was a culture shock.

“I had dealt with white supremacy before, but never like this – never in a covert way where people could use the same progressive language I could use and at the same time make me feel like I didn’t belong here,” Oliver told an audience at Seattle Public Library’s main branch downtown.

She was part of a guest panel that followed a talk by author/activist/entrepreneur Kevin Powell.

The event addressed being black in Seattle – issues of diversity, racism, gentrification, classism, gender and sexual identity, economic injustice and the failures of the education system.

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Powell said he did not have a positive male role model until he was 18.

“We should not take for granted, gentlemen, how important it is – particularly if these kids don’t have fathers – that you actually represent a father figure, just by the fact that you are a grown person,” he said.